June 2nd, Seminar by John Stasko: “New Approaches for Information Visualization: Rethinking Existing Notions”

The School of Computer Science welcomes the opportunity to hear from Professor John Stasko of Georgia Tech,who will be delivering his talk on “New Approaches for Information Visualization: Rethinking Existing Notions” remotely. John Stasko

Abstract:
As the field of information visualization matures, researchers are able to reflect on, and perhaps even question,     some long-accepted notions from the area. In this talk, I focus on three such notions:
* Representing network data through force-directed node-link diagrams
* Focusing on visual representation first and foremost
* Evaluating visualizations through user studies and experiments
Although these ideas clearly have value as evidenced by their acceptance and longevity, I have begun to question      the wisdom of each. In this talk I’ll explain my concerns about these notions and I’ll suggest a new, alternative approach to each as well.       To support these arguments, I will describe a number of research projects from my lab that illustrate and exemplify the new approach.

Bio:
John received the B.S. degree in Mathematics at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania (1983) and Sc.M. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island (1985 and 1989). He joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 1989, and he is presently a Professor in the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing. His primary research area is human-computer interaction, with a focus on information visualization and visual analytics. John is a senior member of the ACM and IEEE. He was named an ACM Distinguished Scientist in 2011 and an IEEE Fellow in 2014. He also received the 2012 IEEE VGTC Visualization Technical Achievement Award. In 2013 John served as General Chair of the IEEE VIS conferences in Atlanta, and he was named an Honorary Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

This seminar is part of our ongoing series from researchers in HCI. See here for our current schedule.

 

Event details

  • When: 2nd June 2015 14:00 - 15:00
  • Where: Cole 1.33a
  • Format: Seminar

S4 Summer School

S4 pupils take part in fun, hands-on activities themed around Computer Science and Medicine. They will have the opportunity to work in groups to build and deploy their own Android application. This session is run in collaboration with Reach Scotland, Access for Rural Communities (ARC), and the Academic Mentoring Project (AMP).

Event details

  • When: 9th June 2015 13:00 - 16:00
  • Where: Cole 0.35 - Jack Cole CS Student Lab
  • Format: Summer School

Visualizing and writing variable-free compositional relational programs

G_PacaciAbstract:
Representing argument binding in compositional relational programs is an issue due to the syntactic problems. We first present our former research on using visualization to overcome this problem, and relevant user studies, and go on to discuss our recent work on syntactic improvements in solving the same problem. We are looking forward to feedback on this early stage research.

Bio:
Gorkem studied his masters degree in Abertay Dundee in Computer Games Technology, delivering a thesis on Optimizing collision detection in games. After working in games for a while, he started studying towards a doctorate degree in Uppsala University, Sweden. His study focuses on the representation of relational programming languages.

 

Event details

  • When: 20th May 2015 14:00 - 15:00
  • Where: Cole 1.33a
  • Format: Seminar

PhD Scholarship in Data Science

Potential PhD students with a strong background in Computer Science are encouraged to apply for this three-year studentship funded by the Research Council of the European Commission (ERC). The student will work within an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Computer Science and Geography in the WORKANDHOME project (ERC Starting Grant 2014), which investigates how home-based businesses are shaping society and space.

The student will examine the Computer Science challenges within this research project. The exact scope of the PhD project is open to discussion but we anticipate that the successful candidate will be working broadly on Data Science topics, potentially covering one or more of the following areas: cloud computing, social network analysis and agent-based modelling. This is a unique opportunity to work at the cutting edge of systems research. Come join us in St Andrews.

Funding Notes: The studentship will cover UK/EU tuition fees and an annual tax-free stipend of approximately £13,000. Funding will be for three years of full-time study, starting asap.

Applications: It is expected that applicants should have or expect to obtain a UK first-class honours degree (or its equivalent from non-UK institutions) in Computer Science but the minimal standard that we will consider is a UK upper-second class Honours degree or its equivalent.

For further information on how to apply, see our postgraduate web pages. All interested candidates should contact Dr Adam Barker in the first instance to discuss your eligibility for the scholarship and a proposal for research.

Scott Lang Dinner 2015

Peter Redford Scott Lang (1850-1926) was a Professor of Mathematics at St Andrews University from 1879 until his retirement in 1921. He had studied at Edinburgh University, and taught there before being appointed to St Andrews. Having seen the “ordinary student fare of the mid nineteenth century and menus of term time dinners” he instigated the institution of ‘Common Dinners’ in the 1880s.

Scott Lang dinner 2015

Scott Lang dinner 2015

The original purpose of the dinners was to enable students to have a “decent and varied diet,” but ended up meaning much more than that to some.  In 1926, L.J.D. Gibson wrote this about the dinners:

The Common Dinners were of the greatest service in the bringing the men together … Modern St Andrews owes a great debt to Professor Lang … was so invaluable in fostering the social life of the university.
Ruth Hoffmann, Viktoriya Anisimova, Gala Malbasic, Cameron Wright and Steve Linton (HOS)

Computer Scientists: Ruth Hoffmann, Viktoriya Anisimova, Gala Malbasic, Cameron Wright and Steve Linton (HOS)

The lavish common dinners fell out of favour during the war period and have only been recently reintroduced to St Andrews. In 2015 the dinner was held on the 14th April in Lower College Hall. The dinner is designed to encourage interaction across interests in all areas of the University community and is open to all staff and students.
Aleksejs Sazonovs (school president), Ruth Hoffman, Keno Schwalb, Aaron Quigley (DoR) and Cameron Wright

Aleksejs Sazonovs (school president), Ruth Hoffman, Aaron Quigley (DoR), Keno Schwalb and Cameron Wright

In 2015, the School of Computer Science invited its class representatives and student president to dine with the head of school, Professor Steve Linton and Director of Research, Professor Aaron Quigley at the annual Scott Lang Dinner. This was to thank the students for their service to their fellow students, the school and to the University. Everyone had a wonderful evening and it was a great opportunity to learn more about each other outside the school. We hope this is the start of a new and long lasting tradition for our staff and students.

Thanks to Xu Zhu who also attended for the images (CC by-SA 3.0 license).

May 18th, Data Science Seminar Series or “a Summer of V’s”

The Sum­mer of V’s is an excit­ing series of four events on the Four V’s of Data Sci­ence: Vera­city, Vari­ety, Velo­city and Volume. The series is coordin­ated by the new Insti­tute of Data Intens­ive Research at the Uni­ver­sity of St Andrews. How­ever, these events don’t simply tar­get groups in Sci­ence, Medi­cine or the Human­it­ies but instead all three across the Uni­ver­sity. The series aims to take a cross cut­ting theme approach with a few speak­ers present­ing on a shared aspect of data. Our aim is to bal­ance the speak­ers from across the Uni­ver­sity and as a res­ult meet­ings are rel­ev­ant to all dis­cip­lines across the University.

The first event start­s with lunch from 1.30pm on 18th May at the Bell Pet­ti­grew Museum and Bute Lec­ture Theatre A.

To register and for all the details visit the IDIR page

Event details

  • When: 18th May 2015 13:30 - 17:00
  • Where: St Andrews
  • Format: Seminar, Symposium